Ge effects used with Solid State Amps?

[jmusser]

I've got a couple responses from this in the past, but nothing really concrete and was wondering what the general consensus was. I have several Ge transistors just waiting to go into a Fuzz Face, Tone Bender, Rangemaster, etc, but have refrained from ever building them, since I have heard that you can't really get the wooly mojo out of a GE transistor circuit, unless it's being played through a tube amp. If this is true, (and I suspect it is), what is the alternative to getting them to sound at least decent through a solid state amp? Would a tube OD help? What is the reasoning behind this phenomenon? Can you put a Ge effect through a tube emulator such as the 3 Legged Dog, and reap any GE Mojo? This may have been hashed out before somewhere, and if so, forward me to the thread, but just through a general search on the subject, I didn't find anything.

[nelson]

I think alot of distortion/fuzz effects sound better when tubes are just breaking up. But thats just icing on the cake, they do sound "best" imo through a tube amp, but running into a clean solid state amp you will hear the pedal. Wouldnt go for a rangemaster with solid state, Tonebender and Fuzz face for sure though.

[Mark F]

I haven't tried this but I think Petemoore, who seems to be the local Fuzz Face connessiure,(sp) said that running a Germanium device into one of the ROG FET emulator circuits ie; Fetzer Valve etc. sounds quite nice. If he meant it sounds like running it into a "real" tube amp I don't know. If I misrepresented what he said/meant I apologize in advance. :wink:

[JimRayden]

http://www.geofex.com/Article_Folders/Rangemaster/atboost.pdf

Someone in that document I read that it's got something to do with tube grids etc. The Rangemaster is designed to be in between guitar and a tube amp. It doesn't tolerate other effects. Read the document, you'll find it most informing.

The other Ge pedals should be cool though.

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Jimbo

[Stevo]

Hey for years I built and sold fuzzes of all types, my own too!! ....in a solid state amp is how I tweaked them now really you can build a MKII to sound really nice in a solid state amp,I have played many!!!  Use the variable input cap that joe gagen has used a 4.7 next to a .01 and use a 50 or 100k pot to attenuate between the two that way you have a kind of tone control but more like a gain/trim capabilitys to your sound ......You will like the lesser of the caps because of the better treble control..but also the big wooshy fuzz is still there with a turn of the pot

[petemoore]

Just what I tried. I'm sure it depends on alot of stuff.
 Some of the distortion characteristics FF"s are known for are caused by the FF to happen in the tube. From what I tried it seemed to confirm this, through a tube the FF sounded ;rounded' clipping wise *comparitively rounded clip sounding waveform.
 When we plugged it into a SS amp it sounded as thout the clipping was Spikes.
 ...this isn't to say a FF can't be just the thing through a SS amp...after reads and limited tests, I forewent further exploration...except...
 I had a great time playing a FF through a Little Gem With a shaka tube [@36V] on the front end...also reverb.
 Jfets/tube 'sililarities' may be worth looking into,
 [not tried through SS amp]...but FF sounds great into minibooster, etc....either input gain modded or turn the FF volume down some.

[doug deeper]

i tend to like the fuzz/solid state combo more.
it really depends on your style/guitar/amp though.

[brian wenz]

Hello Hello--
    Hmmmm.......this sounds like a thread from about a year ago........
All of the English circuits [Fuzz Face, Tonebender, Rangemaster, etc.]  were designed around English tube amps like Vox and Marshall so they sound GREAT when used with these amps at moderate to loud volumes.
They can sound good, too, when played through a solid state amp  that has a master volume / pre-amp / gain  circuit  [like most of the modern solid state stuff but they won't sound anywhere near a cranked Marshall or Vox tube amp.  
 The American  and Japanese fuzzes [ Super Fuzz, Maestro, Fuzzrite, Bosstone....] can sound pretty cool through American amps [even some solid state ones] but it's a different kind of "fuzz"  then the British stuff  [more like Iron Butterfly, Seeds,  and a thousand 60's garage bands.]
  It's all cool...just different!
Brian.
WWW.OTTOSGUITARS.COM

[Joe Hart]

I've had some cool tones happening with three different SS amps by running a FF into a Dist+ (it seems to be related to the sound of GE diodes to ground instead of SI diodes like in a DOD250). And if I take out the Dist+, the FF sound horrible. Strange but true.
-Joe Hart

[Doug_H]

I don't think there's a hard and fast rule about this stuff. *In general* you want to stay away from using boosters (rangemasters etc) with ss amps. But it all depends on the amp.

Doug

[brian wenz]

Hello Hello--
   Mostly,  I like to have an amp that is already sounding a bit "gainy" and then  add the boost or fuzz on top of that but sometimes I'll want the sound of  a real ratty fuzz through a clean amp.  Nothing quite compares to the dulcet tones of a Fuzzrite through a tuck-and-roll Kustom amp!
Brian.

[Cabezahead]

When I put my rig through my solid state polytone - I set my minibooster so it's not really boostin' the signal and then use my distortions to drive that...  It works well - but it's a totally different sound.

I really like the sound when I drive my polytone, though...  It's a really gritty, angular kind of sound. Mileage varies indeed.

-CH

[Paul Perry (Frostwave)]

Some customers use my Resonator (clone of the LM13600 based MS20 filter) to put 'mojo' into otherwise solid state systems. I don't advertise it for this, but I mention it because, there's a case where people apparently think it is worth having a 'soft distortion' character device in front of a solid state amp.
And Doug_H makes sense when he says putting a straight boost in front of a solid state amp is often pointless... that's what you would expect, if the more common point of a boost is to drive a tube amp into smooth overload, the solid state is just going to clip & splat.